Amtrak HQs to Leave 60 Mass

[Bob Dylan]

According to a post on trainorders (Gene Poon uaually has inside info) the Lease is up on the HQs in Union Station in 2years and Amtrak will be moving to a Smaller Building on 1st and Mass.

According to the post This is due to Higher Rents. Union Station is owned by the US DOT and a Private Real Estate Company runs the Operation for them.

This may be Mr. Moormans opportunity to clean out the Deadwood in Amtraks Executive Ranks and bring in real Railroaders to get Amtrak on track!

 

[jebr]

I'm not sure how a building move would allow Moorman any more opportunity to "clean house" than he would by staying at the current location. My guess is that the smaller office still has enough room for all the current positions (or at least the positions Moorman would want to keep,) and typically moving offices does not in and of itself result in downsizing staff. (Moving to a smaller location may be a result of wanting to clean house or downside, but usually not the cause of cleaning house.)

 

[Alexandria Nick]

A lot of government offices around the area are talking about having too much space these days. Some leases date to the days of steno pools and everyone having a secretary. You just don't need that kind of floor space any more. Plus, with more and more people being allowed to telework, why pay for an two office that sit empty two days a week when two people can share one and coordinate in-office and telework schedules?

 

[neroden]

I know it's convenient to be in DC for the lobbying and budget and going to Congress and all, but I kind of wish Amtrak would move their HQ to Chicago Union Station, which they own, and which is the nerve center for off-NEC operations.

 

[looshi]

I've been told by an employee that Amtrak is required by its charter to have its headquarters somewhere in the District of Columbia.

 

[jis]

Where does it say so?

It is a fact that Amtrak was incorporated in DC. That does not mean that it has to have its HQ in DC. Furthermore, it is not that hard to change the State of incorporation either. I have lived through two such relocation of incorporation, and both cases it did not affect the location of the HQ. So yeah, that little fact probably does not matter. There is no requirement to keep the HQ anywhere in particular AFAICT

I quickly glanced through the chartering Act of Amtrak and could not find anything that says that it must be headquartered in DC. Of course as always I am willing to be educated and shown the error of my ways.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Could just be a gentlemen's agreement so to speak. In which case it's only as important as today's Congress deems it. That being said, having easy access to Congress in times of adversity is probably a benefit to Amtrak.

 

[jis]

Could just be a gentlemen's agreement so to speak. In which case it's only as important as today's Congress deems it. That being said, having easy access to Congress in times of adversity is probably a benefit to Amtrak.

That I agree. However, that does not require anything more than a liaison office to be in DC.

 

[tommylicious]

Trump kicking them out?

 

[jis]

Trump kicking them out?

No.

 

[Alexandria Nick]

Where does it say so?

It is a fact that Amtrak was incorporated in DC. That does not mean that it has to have its HQ in DC. Furthermore, it is not that hard to change the State of incorporation either. I have lived through two such relocation of incorporation, and both cases it did not affect the location of the HQ. So yeah, that little fact probably does not matter. There is no requirement to keep the HQ anywhere in particular AFAICT

I quickly glanced through the chartering Act of Amtrak and could not find anything that says that it must be headquartered in DC. Of course as always I am willing to be educated and shown the error of my ways.

Section 112 of P.L. 96-73 explicitly states that the principle office must be in Washington, DC. Obviously, changing this would require an act of Congress. But, it is definitely codified that Amtrak's headquarters must be in DC.

 

[PRR 60]

Where does it say so?

It is a fact that Amtrak was incorporated in DC. That does not mean that it has to have its HQ in DC. Furthermore, it is not that hard to change the State of incorporation either. I have lived through two such relocation of incorporation, and both cases it did not affect the location of the HQ. So yeah, that little fact probably does not matter. There is no requirement to keep the HQ anywhere in particular AFAICT

I quickly glanced through the chartering Act of Amtrak and could not find anything that says that it must be headquartered in DC. Of course as always I am willing to be educated and shown the error of my ways.

Section 112 of P.L. 96-73 explicitly states that the principle office must be in Washington, DC. Obviously, changing this would require an act of Congress. But, it is definitely codified that Amtrak's headquarters must be in DC.

Of course, "principle office" and "headquarters" can mean almost anything. During the decade that Pennsylvanian Drew Lewis was the CEO, the "headquarters" of the Union Pacific Railroad was in Bethlehem PA - Lewis's hometown. There are no Union Pacific tracks within 600 miles of Bethlehem. I doubt that office contained much more than a place for Mr. Lewis and a few non-operating reports. Within a few months of his retirement, the UP headquarters was moved back to Omaha.

I don't think the requirement to maintain a principle office in DC would inhibit Amtrak's ability to move some functions out of DC. Amtrak already has a large portion of its professional staff in Philadelphia.

 

[Carolina Special]

Seems like they could get a D.C. attorney to handle the service of process, rather than have the whole HQ based there.

I worked for a regional telecomm carrier until recently and a series of federal regulatory filings I handled required us to list a D.C. attorney address to handle the service of process. Of course, the Feds or their agents always contacted me rather than going through the D.C. attorney, but that's another story.

 

[jis]

By the way, term would be "principal office" not "principle office". Unless the term "principal office" is defined specifically to constitute specific functions, all it means is that there must be "an office" in Washington DC.

As I said before, I did not see anything about Headquarters, and that opinion has not changed.

 

[railiner]

.

I recall when the Union Pacific Corporation was headquartered in New York City...at that time the closest the railroad came was half a continent away (in KC or Council Bluffs)...

 

[Green Maned Lion]

All corporations are theoretically required to have a principle office in their town of incorporation, which is why Wilmington and Newark Delaware have anything at all in them. That being said, the principle office can be a 10x10 room with a part time person- or less.

My corporation, which is essentially hibernating, has its principle office in the town I was living in when I incorporated it. I rent the 10x10 space from the same I guy I used to rent a trailer from- it's a shed of questionable structural fitness with a retired office desk and chair in it- it came with a mailing address. I pay the guy $200 a year for that and a phone call when I get mail. Principle office.

 

[jis]

Principle -

noun

1. an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct: a person of good moral principles.
2. a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived: the principles of modern physics.
3. a fundamental doctrine or tenet; a distinctive ruling opinion: the principles of the Stoics.

Principal -

adjective

1. first or highest in rank, importance, value, etc.; chief; foremost.
2. of, of the nature of, or constituting principal or capital: a principal investment, a principal office
3. Geometry. (of an axis of a conic) passing through the foci.

Pedantically speaking, we are talking of the "principal" office, not the "principle" (of) office

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Pedantically speaking, we are talking of the "princpial" office, not the "principle" (of) office

jis--You had everything just right until you misspelled "principal"! :giggle:

If it makes all of you feel better, even the social policy researchers I edit for mix these two up all the time.

 

[lstone19]

The "principle" office is just another name for the Ethics department.

 

[jis]

Pedantically speaking, we are talking of the "princpial" office, not the "principle" (of) office

jis--You had everything just right until you misspelled "principal"! :giggle:

If it makes all of you feel better, even the social policy researchers I edit for mix these two up all the time.

Just making sure someone is at least reading the darned thing. Thanks. Corrected.

Actually this one was a mistyping, but in our work on writing standards specifications at ANSI/ISO and other such august bodies, we used to deliberately leave glaring errors in the text just to see if the reviewers were actually reading the thing or just nodding it through.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Can I assume y'all spent plenty of time laughing at the glaring mistakes they didn't catch?

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I know it's convenient to be in DC for the lobbying and budget and going to Congress and all, but I kind of wish Amtrak would move their HQ to Chicago Union Station, which they own, and which is the nerve center for off-NEC operations.

My mind went toward having their HQ in the 30th Street Station in Philly.

Though, Amtrak's Office of Ineffective Lobbyists (the political OIL) would need to stay in the DC area, of course.

 

[jis]

Frankly, if Amtrak lobbyists were truly ineffective, they and Amtrak would have ceased to exist several times over by now

 

[Railroad Bill]

As a former high school principal, I was constantly reminding students (and an occasional teacher) that my position was spelled with al. at the end. Always remember _ "_the principal is your pal" . As long as you are not late to class..

 

[Alexandria Nick]

As I said before, I did not see anything about Headquarters, and that opinion has not changed.

You mean aside from where it flat out says "their main office is in DC." They don't exactly mince words.

Also, have to put it in context: the government pays for it, ergo its headquarters goes where the government is. Its not an agency, but they're definitely treating it like one, as far as dictating where the headquarters falls, so that it fits in with all the government agencies that are required to have their headquarters in DC (unless you're the DoD, for some reason, and Arlington counts).